Social workers and students at Evangel to celebrate National Social Work Month with luncheon

March 13, 2013 | Paul K. Logsdon

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. ­– The Evangel University Social Work Program and Missouri State University School of Social Work, along with AIDS Project of the Ozarks, will sponsor a luncheon in celebration of National Social Work Month.

The luncheon will be held on Wednesday, March 27, from 12-1:30 p.m. in Evangel’s Cantrell Student Union Building in the Joust West Conference Room.

“We want to honor social workers and the profession during National Social Work Month,” said Professor Lacey Nunnally, director of Evangel’s Social Work Program. “Providing a free lunch for area social workers will hopefully be a token of gratitude to those who give so much to our community.”

Guest speaker will be Dr. Renee White. She serves Joplin Schools as the manager for Project HOPE, which provides mental health supports in schools. Prior to this, she worked as a clinical instructor for Missouri State University’s School of Social Work.

After the devastating Joplin tornado, White used her professional skills to assist families, organizations and the Joplin community in disaster recovery, including individual crisis counseling, non-profit staff resiliency and debriefing, and community coordination and collaboration.

White is currently the chairperson of the Joplin Area Long Term Recovery Committee, a volunteer committee with over 80 organizational partners (governmental agencies, emergency/disaster management agencies, social service organizations and faith-based benevolence groups) who serve tornado-affected families in need.

Additional guests will include the following:

Dwayne Walker, representative from the National Association of Social Workers

Jeanette Mott Oxford, representative from the Missouri Association of Social Welfare

Evangel University is a private, Christian university of arts, sciences and professions. With an enrollment of more than 2,000 students from all 50 states and abroad, Evangel offers more than 100 undergraduate academic programs and nine master’s programs.

About Evangel

Evangel is an accredited, liberal arts university with more than 70 academic programs on the cutting edge of today's professional fields. Our commitment to the integration of faith, learning and life attracts students from a wide variety of Christian denominational backgrounds who have a strong commitment to academics with a desire to combine their Christian faith with every aspect of their lives.